Inverted pyramid (journalism)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Inverted pyramid (journalism)

The inverted pyramid is a simple writing style used by journalists. It places the most important information at the very start and follows with details in order of decreasing importance. The idea is to give readers the key facts right away, even if they stop reading early.

How it works
- The opening paragraph answers the five Ws and How: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
- The rest of the piece adds supporting details, with less important information appearing later.
- Some stories end with a kicker—an extra, concluding line—especially in feature writing.
- If the important facts are buried deeper, that’s called burying the lead.

Alternate names
- Summary lead
- Bottom line up front (BLUF)

Why it’s used
- Readers can grasp the essential facts quickly.
- It’s easy to edit or shorten the story by cutting from the bottom.

History
- Historians disagree on exactly when it started. Many point to the telegraph era, which encouraged concise reporting to save costs and cope with unreliable networks.
- Some early coverage of major events used a straightforward chronological approach instead of the inverted pyramid.
- The format spread over time as journalism education and English-language media standardized straightforward reporting.

Other notes
- While widely taught and used, journalism also features other approaches, such as anecdotal leads or Q&A formats.

See also
- Glossary of journalism
- Spiral approach